King's Balanced Attack Sends Men's Volleyball to 3-1 League Loss

MISENHEIMER, N.C. – King College hit .333 offensively and used 43 digs on defense to score a 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-19) victory over Pfeiffer University in Conference Carolinas men’s volleyball action on Tuesday night in the Merner Gym. The Tornado improve to 11-8 overall, 5-3 in league play while the Falcons dip to 8-13, 0-7.

Pfeiffer jumped out to a quick start in game one to take the opener 25-23. A pair of Tornado errors and kill by Eric Edelman (Henrietta, NY) put the Falcons up 7-2 while a service ace from Josh Mahan (Victor, NY) later put the hosts up 13-8. King would rally back late in the opening set as Alex Oliveria (Goiania, BRAZIL) would deliver an ace of his own before giving the point right back on his second serve attempt. Two more Tornado miscues extended the Pfeiffer lead to 21-17 before Mahan stifled a comeback attempt with another throw down for the two-point win.

In the second set, back-to-back kills by Edelman and Drew Burdette (Greer, SC) put the Falcons up 11-8 before a pair of errors and kill by James Friddle (Cartersville, GA) put the visitors up for good. Burdette tried to bring back the home team with a kill at 18-17 but a kill from Joel Salva (Lake Mary, FL) and two at the end by Jeremy Funk (Washingtonboro, PA) would even the match at a set apiece.

Set three completely belonged to King from the halfway point of the stanza as four-straight Pfeiffer faults pushed an 8-8 game to a 12-8 visitors lead. From there, James Friddle (Cartersville, GA) would drop down a pair of kills while Funk added two more. Eric Glenn (Portsmouth, VA) recorded the final two kills of set for a 25-15 win.

Pfeiffer tried to mount a late rally in set four but would eventually succumb by six. Edelman registered a kill to tie the match at 14, but again, a Pfeiffer error gave the Tornado the lead and the lead for good. Glenn would put down the next two King kills for an 18-16 game while Micah Bortner (Dallastown, PA) and Friddle would trade kills at 19-17. After a Falcons timeout down three, Oliveria would begin to seal the deal as Salva did on the final play for a 3-1 match win.

Friddle had a match-high 16 kills for the Tornado while Glenn followed with 11. Salva dished out 49 assists while libero Morris Cephas (Richmond, VA) popped up 14 of King’s 43 digs. The visitors hit .478 and .483 in the final two sets for the win.

For the Falcons, Edelman recorded the only double-digit kill night with 14 while setter Michael McLaughlin (Aliquippa, PA) put up 31 helpers. Mark Hess (Lebanon, PA) dug nine times while Pfeiffer out-blocked King 11-10.

Pfeiffer returns to action on Thursday wrapping up the 2010-2011 regular season for all of Falcon athletics with a senior night match against Lees-McRae beginning at 7:00 p.m.